Transportation is then effected by sledges, drawn through the mud by carabacs.

There are telegraph lines connecting most of the provinces of Luzon with Manila, and cables to the Visayas and southern islands, and thence to Borneo and Singapore, as well as a direct cable from Manila to Hongkong.

The land telegraph lines are owned by the Government, and the cables all belong to an English company, which receives a large subsidy.

In Manila there is a narrow gauge street railway, operated by horse-power, about eleven miles in total length; also a telephone system, and electric lights.
Communications with Europe are maintained by the Spanish Trans-Atlantic Company (subsidized), which sends a steamer every four weeks from Manila and Barcelona, making the trip in about twenty-seven days.

The same company also sends an intermediate steamer from Manila to Singapore, meeting the French Messagoric each way.